


freedom so liberating that we call it magic

by EtchJetty



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: F/M, Gender Dysphoria, Magic, Trans Female Character, Trans Sheik (Legend of Zelda), Trans Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22342582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtchJetty/pseuds/EtchJetty
Summary: People don’t talk about Sheik that much. It must have been hell for Zelda, to pretend to be a gender she wasn’t. Especially if she had done it before.(or: what if zelda was a girl?)
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 59





	freedom so liberating that we call it magic

**Author's Note:**

> I think about Sheik a lot.
> 
> (This fic incorporates small tidbits of lore from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.)

It would be another seven years before Link would leave the Temple of Time, and it would be another seven years before Zelda could live as herself again. 

Her parents had, when they found out, taken great pains to help her along her transition. Impa had known a healer that lived in a nearby kingdom, and he had come, informing her parents what it meant to have a daughter. 

What it meant to have a daughter who they had thought was a son. 

She chose the name Zelda based on an old tale, of heroes and princesses strong enough to seal away darkness. The name _resonated_ with her in a way that her old name never had. 

Castle Town had never met Prince Rhoam, for he was too young to be presented in front of the kingdom, and they never would. But they were more than eager to, upon hearing the news, donate dresses and fabrics and all sorts of wonderful things to their princess, Zelda.

Of course, some people had figured it out. But the atmosphere of Castle Town was one where speaking openly of her secret was a taboo. In time, people forgot about Rhoam, and Zelda became a favorite member of the Royal Family around the kingdom.

As the 9 year old Zelda soon learned, Rhoam having been forgotten was a blessing in more ways than one.

Link was nice enough, she supposed, but not ready to take on the man who was in the throne room. Impa agreed. 

It was Impa, after Ganondorf ran them out of Castle Town, who introduced her to the Clan.

It was the Clan's leader, a man named Yiga, who suggested that Zelda, for her protection, become Sheik. 

Zelda did not like Yiga. Impa didn't like Yiga either, but recognized his wisdom. 

"He's looking for the Princess Zelda," said Impa. "He won't be looking for a man." They never said Ganondorf's name out loud. 

"But I'm not a man," said Zelda. "I haven't been one, never was one—"

"Then pretend, Princess," said Yiga. His lips were tight, and Zelda didn't like the way he said "Princess." 

"It'll only be until Link returns," reassured Impa. 

"I don't much care for Link," sniffed Zelda, and she walked away.

\---

Yiga was right. Impa was right. A stalfos had attacked Zelda the moment she left the camp, and she was helpless against it. Her sealing magic, the magic her mother had passed down, did nothing against the animated skeleton. And she couldn’t use the light arrows, because she didn’t know how to fire a bow.

Yiga saw her peril and had dispatched the stalfos with a single bomb. 

"You are untrained as well," he said. "And your body has been..." He grimaced, glancing at her chest. 

"Don't say a word," said Zelda. 

"You understand the situation we are in," said Yiga. "If you are not ready to help Link by the time he comes back, if you do not take up the mantle of Sheik, your kingdom, the entire world, will be corrupted by the evil currently residing in your castle."

Zelda didn't cry. 

But she wanted to.

Later that night, she came to Impa.

"I'll do it," she said. "I'll become Sheik. So long as it's not forever."

Impa sighed, and beckoned Zelda closer. "Nothing lasts forever," she said, when Zelda was sitting next to Impa, her head on Impa's shoulder. "And for the things we want to last, we fight as hard as we can for them to survive for as long as possible."

"And Sheik?" 

"I don't agree with everything Yiga says," said Impa. "But he's the leader of the Clan because he has led our clan out of more perilous situations than I can count. He understands survival." Here, Impa paused.

"But?"

"But he does not understand freedom," she said. "Yiga's whole life, he has fought. And now, he will teach you how to fight, so that you can teach Link, and he can teach the next generation that will need to protect the kingdom.

"And he does not understand freedom.

"He does not understand the freedom that is being comfortable in your own body. The freedom of being who you want to be, of being who you are.

"You are Princess Zelda," said Impa, and it was magic. "And nothing will change that. For now, however, you will have to pretend to be Sheik."

"Pretend," said Zelda, tasting the word on her tongue. It was the same word Yiga used, but it sounded different coming from Impa. 

"I will pretend," said Zelda. "I won't like it, but I will pretend. To be a man. For the good of the kingdom."

And Impa smiled, and it was the same smile she had seen on her mother, and it was the same smile she saw in her dreams, and she knew this was what she had to do.

Zelda would fight for her freedom to be Zelda.

That night, Impa sang her to sleep with the same lullaby she used to sing, a long, long time ago.

\---

\---

Seven long years stretched out into eternity. 

Yiga was right, for the moment she donned the Sheikah clothing, covering her face and accentuating the parts of herself that she hated the most, the forces of evil did not seem to know who she was. 

They would learn. 

Zelda found that reports swirled about "that man," "the man with the bombs," "the man with the talent to evade Ganondorf's ground troops," the man, the myth, the _man._

They still did not attack her, not in the same way they did on that first night, seven long, horrible years ago. They attacked her in the same way they attacked anyone who tried to exist in the new hellscape that Ganondorf had created.

Her body became toned, her shoulders broadening. Her voice deepened and she did not stop it, not in the way that the healer had recommended all those years ago. 

She hated her existence, but she was making a difference. The people of Kakariko still lived, even if the people of Castle Town were not so lucky.

Every once in a while she stopped by the Temple of Time. The building's exterior was relatively untouched by Ganondorf's ravaging of Castle Town, and the interior was wholly pristine. 

The door, behind which the boy she had met would appear, behind which the boy who she still dreamed about would appear, behind which the boy who she feared she was turning into would appear.

 _Would_ appear. Yiga's reassurances could only do so much after six years of total silence from the other side of the door, especially after Impa left to protect Kakariko. 

She could feel the faint pulse of magic from beyond the door, but for all she knew that told her nothing of the young hero. Was that magic preserving him, protecting him so that he could return in Hyrule's hour of need? Or was she simply feeling the magic that locked the door?

She wouldn't know until one fateful day, when the door finally opened. 

\---

\---

Link didn't recognize her. She didn’t know if it was a good thing or not, considering he was one of very few people who had known her when she was a child. 

When she was herself.

Irregardless, she set out to do what she could. She instructed him on how to access the temples of the sages. She was going to teach him about time travel, but she didn’t need to, as he had already known how to do it... or _did_ she teach him? The mechanics were confusing, but irrelevant.

Link finally saved the other six sages. It was now time for her to do what she hadn’t done in seven years. 

“You hold the Triforce of Courage,” she continued, having explained where Ganondorf got his power. “And the other, who holds the Triforce of Wisdom, the seventh sage...”

She held her hands out. If she was being honest, she wasn’t sure if this would work. It was only a vague memory of the healer, from so long ago, who had, and of the details she wasn’t certain, said something along the lines of, “There are magics out there that can instantly alter the body, as opposed to the longer-term treatment most people get. If your daughter is interested—” 

“What are the risks?” interrupted her father. He leaned forward. 

The healer grimaced. “Most elixirs of this sort are either risky, leading to mutations of some form or another, or short term, leading to people reverting to their previous form. The ingredients most apothecaries have available simply aren’t up to strength with something like, say, a gift from the dragon Naydra.”

“Naydra—the patron dragon of Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom?” 

“That’s what the legends say, your highness. But I’ve witnessed elixirs made with Naydra’s blessing—astounding things can be done, your highness. Perhaps your daughter’s body can be shaped to exactly how it was meant to be shaped.”

The king’s face turned grave, and he stood up from his chair. “Let us talk in another room,” he said, and the two left Zelda alone in the throne room, thinking about dragons and magic and the goddess Nayru—

The same goddess who created the very shard of the Triforce she possessed herself. 

_Dear Goddesses, let this work_.

The back of her hand began to glow. 

Her body was enveloped in light, and Link averted his eyes—

And then, it was over. Her seven year long nightmare was over.

She was _herself_ again.

“It is I,” she said, “the Princess of Hyrule, Zelda.”

It was her. 

Zelda.

\---

\---

After it was all over, when Link saved her from the crystal, when they escaped the collapsing tower, when they defeated Ganon, finally sealing him in the Sacred Realm, Zelda had a chance to talk to Link. It was the first time they had spoken, Link to Zelda, since they were kids.

“Hi,” she said. It probably wasn’t what she was supposed to say. Maybe she was supposed to say something about Ganondorf being sealed away, or a speech about the folly of youth, but she couldn’t make those words come out. 

Link looked at her. She looked at him. His blue eyes, his earring. Those silly white tights. This was the hero that saved her life. Everyone’s lives. 

She pretended to be Sheik for seven years for Link’s sake. 

She wondered what Yiga would think if he saw what she did now.

After she kissed Link, he touched his hand to his cheek, and blushed.

“Thank you,” she said to him, and meant it. 

There would be time to discuss the future. Or, the past, as it were, because Link would soon go back and regain his lost childhood. 

But that was later. 

In the now, she was finally once again Princess Zelda of Hyrule. And she had done it.

She had guaranteed herself, and the kingdom, freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to everyone.


End file.
